Showing posts with label make. Show all posts
Showing posts with label make. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
How to Make Your Own Active Loudspeakers Speaker Amplifier
With the advent of ultra modern cell phones, now it has become possible to store huge music data and listen to them with just a flick of your finger. But listening to music becomes significantly pleasing only if it’s hugely amplified and reproduced over active loudspeakers or with systems incorporating a speaker amplifier circuit.
By amplifying a small music signal from either a cell phone or similar source and hearing it over active loudspeakers can become more interesting and the outcome simply amazing. Complete design idea and schematic of a simple speaker amplifier is produced here.
A normal loudspeaker may be a 3-way type with the connected amplifier equipped with the usual bass treble controls etc. No matter how good they may be in their performance, they can never beat the sound quality that is normally achieved through active loudspeakers. Whether it’s by quality or power they are the best sound reproducing gadgets.
Building an active loudspeaker system may look complex but can be very amusing, and once built can indeed become a treat hearing its magnificent response. Although the cost involved compared to its passive counterpart is much higher, an active system has definitely a clear edge over the passive systems.
The various advantages of a built in speaker amplifier over the passive design may be listed as follows:
No external amplifiers required and so no cumbersome wiring involved.
No use of passive filter circuits using resistors and inductors means an increase in the overall efficiency of the output response due to the absence of power losses through heat dissipations generally involved with passive filter resistors.
Unlike passive filters, the active filters help to boost the set responses. With passive filters it’s just the opposite, they tend to make the input music response deteriorate to a great extent.
Here we will discuss one such active loudspeaker circuit, capable of transforming even an ordinary music inputs into outstanding reproductions. Let’s read its circuit details.
Circuit Description
The following points will discuss one such speaker amplifier circuit, capable of transforming even an ordinary music inputs into outstanding reproductions.
The idea is very simple, equalize the inputs by passing them through appropriate lo-pass and hi-pass filters at the input stages, then amplify this dimensioned content to suitable high volumes using ordinary amplifier.
We do exactly as mentioned above; referring to the figure we find that a single IC TL072 which is basically a dual op-amp in a single package is discretely configured into two separate filters.
IC 2A is wired as a standard high pass filter. As the name suggests, the circuit will pass only specified degree of high input frequencies. The cut off frequency may lie around 3 kHz and can be varied by adjusting VR1 and VR2 or any one of them.
IC 2B is wired in just the opposite configuration i.e. as a low pass filter and allows only the specified degree of frequencies iver the lower ranges, the cut off frequency being 2.5 kHz. It will stop all frequencies above this. The response is adjustable using VR3.
The above suitably equalized audio now is simply fed to an audio amplifier for the required amplifications over the connected loudspeakers. The channel responsible for producing higher frequencies uses a twitter for better optimization where as the other section which handles the lower frequencies is integrated to a woofer for the relevantly bass output optimization.
Best yet cheap CAR AMPLIFIER you can buy.
Best yet cheap CAR AMPLIFIER you can buy.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Make a 6v 4ah Automatic Battery Charger Circuit without Using a Relay
this is diagram a 6V 4.5 AH battery charger circuit which is able to charge 6V 4.5 AH lead acid batteries. The schematic is very simple and using only few components. IC LM317T is the heart of the circuit. The circuit is automatic so when the battery will become full charge it will stop charging. These type of circuits are very useful for solar garden light and can also be used in other circuits like emergency led lamp etc. Use transformer 230 AC to 9V / 500mA.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
How to Make an LED AC Voltage Indicator Project Do it Yourself
A simple construction and accurate result are the main features of this tiny circuit. Learn how to make ac voltage indicator from led in a most simple and easy to understand method.
The AC mains line that we get in our household electric socket outlets, may at times be full of dangerous fluctuations. These may either be in the form of a sudden high voltage or a low voltage. Both the situations can be very “fatal” to our sophisticated electronic equipments like TVs, DVD players, refrigerators, computers etc to name a few.
A simple electronic part such as an LED can play an important role in displaying the condition of this AC mains voltage and warn us of a possible electrical hazard.
Yeah, we will exactly learn how to make ac voltage indicator from led through a construction of a little electronic circuit.
Parts Required
You will need the following mentioned parts for the project:
TRANSISTORS T1, 2, 3, 4, 5 = BC547
ZENER DIODE Z1----Z5 = 3 VOLTS / 400mW
RESISTORS R 1—R10 = 1 K ¼ WATT, CFR.
CAPACITOR C1 = 1000uF/25v,
DIODE D1 = 1N4007
LED 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 = RED 5mm DIFFUSED
PRESET P1, 2, 3, 4, 5 = 47K LINEAR
GENERAL PURPOSE BOARD = 6” BY 2”
TRANSFORMER = O – 6 VOLTS/ 500mA
How to Construct the LED AC Voltage Indicator
It is completed through the following few easy steps:
In the procured general purpose board, with the help of the circuit schematic start inserting the transistors first in a straight line and solder their leads.
Similarly insert and solder the resistors, zener diodes, LEDs, capacitors, presets etc. in an organized manner and solder them with reference to the circuit diagram.
How to Test the Circuit?
The following testing details will furthermore help you to understand exactly how to make ac voltage indicator from led:
For testing the completed circuit board you will require a transformer with multiple voltage outputs.
Connect the transformer to the AC mains; also connect the common secondary output of the transformer to the negative point of the circuit.
Make an alligator clip/ wire assembly. Solder the wire end of the clip to 1N4007 diode input.
Now bite the clip to the 3 volt output of the transformer, adjust P1 so that the first LED just starts glowing.
As above go on connecting the clip to 6, 7.5, 9 and 12 volts of the transformer and adjust the presets P2, P3, P4 andP5 so that the relevant LEDs just start to glow at the respective voltages.
This completes the testing and the setting of the circuit.
Finally join the 6 volt transformer to the circuit and switch ON the power. You will find that LED 1, 2 and 3 are glowing brightly, LED no.4 is glowing with less brightness while the last LED is completely OFF, indicating a safe level of AC mains voltage.
Now in case the voltage exceeds a high level (above 260 volts) the last LED will start glowing brightly indicating a dangerous situation.
If the voltage drops to a dangerous level (below 160 V) LED 3 and may be LED 2 may cease to glow, again indicating a bad low voltage.
Make a Simple Music Controlled Christmas Lights Circuit
Building your own music controlled Christmas lights may not be as difficult as it may appear to be. The article discusses two simple configurations which may be used to decorate a party hall. The first circuit employs colorful LEDs which when integrated to a music system, interestingly dances forward/backward in a sequential pattern with the applied music intensities. The second circuit involves mains powered incandescent lamps and produces the same results as above imitating and sequencing with the connected music peaks.
Imagine all those bouncing and dancing lights around you during party nights, shooting up and down with loud music beats, can definitely enhance the ongoing ambiance. Wanna like to build them at home. A couple of circuits that may be used as music controlled Christmas lights is neatly explained here
Any celebration or a festival is unthinkable without music and lights, especially when it’s a Christmas party an enhanced ambiance becomes an absolute necessity. Dazzling, flashing, strobing lights, we have all seen them pretty commonly during celebrations and festive occasions. However, involving music to lights or rather synchronizing the two together so that the lights flash and follow the music pattern can add entirely a new volume of excitement to the party mood.
Although the design may appear to be complicated but actually integrating the two parameters is very easy, obviously a bit electronic wiring may be involved.
In many of my previous articles I have discussed LED lights and circuits to illuminate them in many different decorative ways.
In this article we will discuss how to make arrays of LEDs and mains operated incandescent lamps move and shuffle in a to and fro motion in response to the applied music at its input.
The attached incandescent lamps may be arranged in rows and columns to produce highly pulsating lighting effect. The effects created by the light arrays responding to the music peaks can simply become a visual treat.
A couple of circuits that may be used as music controlled Christmas lights are discussed below. Let’s understand their functioning through the following explanation:
Image Credit: terenceruffle.co.uk
Parts List
All collector resistors are 1K,
All presets are 10K,
4 Nos NPN transistors are BC547B,
1 PNP transistor is BC557,
All diodes are 1N4007,
All Triacs are BT136,
Lamps, as per preference, not to exceed 200 watts each.
Circuit Description
The configurations are pretty straightforward, looking at the figure, we find that the first circuit involves simple transistor amplifier stages arranged in sequence.
Each stage is comprised of an NPN transistor whose base is rigged into a potential dividing network via a preset. Its collector handles the load in the form of LEDs whereas the emitters are connected to the ground potential through diode or diodes as the sequence is preceded.
Here, the diodes perform an important function of regulating the transistor bias voltage. Each diode will drop around 0.6 volts across itself and enables the subsequent transistor stages to conduct only as the music peaks tend to reach the appropriate values.
The presets also help to the above function and may be precisely held to positions such that each subsequent stage conducts gradually or sequentially with increasing music peaks.
An input PNP transistor is included to initially amplify the music level available across the speaker terminals sufficiently, so that the light sequencing variations can be optimized over a wider range.
The second circuit which controls mains operated incandescent lamps works quite similarly as above. However, here the voltage regulation through diodes and zeners is rather employed to the bases of the transistor instead of the emitters, because we don’t want the AC lamps also getting rectified and producing half the illumination.
The base of the each subsequent transistor is offered an incrementing potential drop through additions of more number of diodes and zeners, but practically it’s found that it’s absolutely not required, a single diode to each of the bases appears to do the job well as the actual setting of the sequencing pattern is effectively optimized through the presets itself.
The above explained music controlled Christmas lights circuits can be assembled over a piece of general purpose PCB and housed inside the associated amplifier cabinet and powered from there itself. The output connections to the lamps will however require attention and should be very carefully terminated to the lamps using good quality insulated PVC wires.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Make a Workbench Multimeter With the IC 741
Testing and troubleshooting electronic project circuits requires a multimeter, so why not make the circuit of a homemade multimeter itself as your next electronic project. Interesting homemade circuits like an Ohmmeter, voltmeter, ammeter are discussed here using the IC 741 and just a few other passive components.
Although multimeters are available plentifully in the market today, but building your own homemade multimeter can be real fun. Moreover the attributes involved can become thoroughly useful for the future electronic circuit building and testing procedures.
Circuit Illustrations
A simple configuration for measuring DC voltages is shown below using the IC 741. A couple of resistors Rx and Ry are introduced at the input in a potential divider mode at the non-inverting pin #3 of the IC. The voltage to be measured is applied across the resistor R1 and ground. Through proper selection of Rx and Ry, the range of the meter can be varied and different voltages can be measured.
In case you want to measure alternating voltages then the circuit illustrated below can become useful. The wiring is similar to the above wiring, however the positions of Rx and Ry have changed and also a coupling capacitor comes into the scene at the inverting input of the IC. Interestingly the meter here is now connected across a bridge network enabling the meter to display the relevant AC potentials correctly.
Another circuit to measure Direct current or Amps using the IC 741 is shown below. The configuration looks pretty simple. Here the input is applied across the resistor Rz i.e. across the non-inverting input pin #3 of the IC and the ground. The range of the meter can be simply varied by changing the value of the resistor Rz.
Resistors are one of the most important passive components which inevitably become an integral part of every electronic circuit. A circuit may be virtually impossible to build without accompanying these amazing current controlling devices. With so many resistors involved, a possible fault can always be on the cards. Identifying them requires a meter – an Ohm meter. A simple design using the IC 741 is shown below just for the purpose.
Unlike most of the analogue designs which tend to have a rather non-linear behavior, the present design very efficiently tackles the problem to produce a perfectly linear response with the corresponding measurements. The range is pretty impressive, it can measure values of resistors right from 1K up to a staggering 10 M. You may go on to modify the circuit for enabling the measurement of more extreme values.
The range is selected by moving the rotary switch switch into the relevant positions. Calibreating th instrument is simple and is done with the following points:
Adjust the selector switch to the “10K” position.
Trim the base preset of the transistor until its emitter voltage shows exactly 1 volt (measure using a digital multimeter.)
Next, Fix an accurately known 10 K resistor into the measuring slot.
Adjust the trimmer associated with the moving coil meter until the meter shows a full scale deflection.
All the circuits discussed above use dual supply voltages. The meter used is a moving coil type and is specified as 1mA FSD.
The preset across the pins 1, 4 and 5 of the IC 741 used for this homemede multimeter is used for adjusting the initial condition meter to exactly zero.
Relevant Values of Rx and Ry
The following are the values of the resistors required for varying the range of the respective meters.
DC Voltmeter
Rx--------------------Ry--------------------Meter FSD
10M-----------------1K--------------------1 KV
10M-----------------10K-------------------100V
10M-----------------100K------------------10V
900K----------------100K------------------1V
NIL-------------------100K-----------------0.1V
DC AMMETER
Rz--------------------Meter FSD
0.1-------------------1A
1---------------------100mA
10-------------------10mA
100-----------------1mA
1K-------------------100uA
10K-----------------10uA
100K---------------1uA
AC VOLTMETER
Ry---------------------Rx-------------------Meter FSD
10K-------------------10M----------------1KV
100K-----------------10M----------------100V
1M-------------------10M-----------------10V
1M--------------------1M------------------1V
1M--------------------100K----------------100mV
1M--------------------10K------------------10mV
1M--------------------1K--------------------1mV
Make a Battery Charger Circuit in 15 Minutes
I have posted many battery charger circuits in this site, some are easy to build but less efficient, while some are too sophisticated involving complex construction steps. The one posted here is possibly the easiset with its concept and also is extremely easy to build. In fact if you had all the required material you would build it within 15 minutes of time.
The concept is indeed hugely simple and therefore pretty crude with its going. This means that though this idea is too simple, would require appropriate monitoring of the charging conditions of the battery, so that it does not get over charged or damaged.
To make this simplest battery charger circuit quickly, you would require the following bill of materials:
After you have collected all the above material, you may simply connect the above parameters together with the help of the diagram.
The functioning of the circuit may be explained in the following manner:
When the power is switched ON, the 1N5402 diode rectifies the 24V DC to produce half wave 24V DC at the output.
Though the RMS value of this voltage may appear to be 12V, the peak voltage is still 24V, therefore it cannot be applied directly to the battery.
To blunt of this peak value, we introduce a bulb in series with the circuit. The bulb absorbs the high peak values of the voltage and provides a relatively controlled output to the battery, which becomes self regulatory through the glow of the filament intensity of the bulb (varying resistance).
The voltage and current thus automatically becomes adjusted to appropriate charging levels which becomes just suitable for the battery safe charging.
The charging of the battery can be witnessed by the gradual dimming of the bulb as the threshold charging voltage of the battery is reached.
However once the battery voltage reaches close to 14.5V, the charging must be stopped, irrespective of the bulb glow condition.
The concept is indeed hugely simple and therefore pretty crude with its going. This means that though this idea is too simple, would require appropriate monitoring of the charging conditions of the battery, so that it does not get over charged or damaged.
To make this simplest battery charger circuit quickly, you would require the following bill of materials:
- One rectifier diode, 1N5402
- An incandescent bulb, having voltage rating equal to the battery which needs to be charged and current rating close to 1/10th of the battery AH.
- A transformer having voltage rating equal to twice that of the battery voltage and current twice the charging rate of the battery. That means if the battery is 12V, the transformer should be 24V, and if the AH of the battery is 7.5 then dividing this by 10 gives 750mA which becomes the recommended charging rate of the battery, multiplying this by 2 gives 1.5Amps, so this becomes the required current rating of the transformer.
After you have collected all the above material, you may simply connect the above parameters together with the help of the diagram.
The functioning of the circuit may be explained in the following manner:
When the power is switched ON, the 1N5402 diode rectifies the 24V DC to produce half wave 24V DC at the output.
Though the RMS value of this voltage may appear to be 12V, the peak voltage is still 24V, therefore it cannot be applied directly to the battery.
To blunt of this peak value, we introduce a bulb in series with the circuit. The bulb absorbs the high peak values of the voltage and provides a relatively controlled output to the battery, which becomes self regulatory through the glow of the filament intensity of the bulb (varying resistance).
The voltage and current thus automatically becomes adjusted to appropriate charging levels which becomes just suitable for the battery safe charging.
The charging of the battery can be witnessed by the gradual dimming of the bulb as the threshold charging voltage of the battery is reached.
However once the battery voltage reaches close to 14.5V, the charging must be stopped, irrespective of the bulb glow condition.
How to Make a Non Contact AC Mains Phase Detector – Measure AC Field Strength Wirelessly
The circuit discussed in this article is of a non-contact mains AC field detector which displays the presence of a mains AC field from a distance of more an 6 inches. The circuit can be used for locating faults in house wiring without the need of making physical contact with the inner conductor of the wire and becomes useful in locating the breaks in a wire by pin pointing the area where the AC mains may be blocked due to a breakage.
The circuit is basically high gain non inverting amplifier which is configured using a few opamps and a few other inexpensive passive electronic components.
Just a couple of opamps have been incorporated here from the IC 324 for the required operations.
Looking at the figure we notice the following things:
The non-inverting input of the IC is grounded making the sensitivity of the configuration to the maximum.
Similarly a feed back loop created by connecting the output of the opamps to the inverting input helps to increase the gain of the set up many folds.
The input is applied to the inverting input 2 of the IC through a blocking capacitor.
The signals entering via the antenna is quickly picked up by the opamp inverting input and sent to the preceding circuit for the required processing and amplification.
It may be interesting to note that the sensitivity of the design can be simply varied by changing the value of the feedback resistor R1, for maximum sensiticity this resistor can be omitted.
However this can make the circuit a bit unstable and might provide false results.
The next stage includes another identical amplifier which is just the repetition of the previous input stage. This stage has been included in order to make the response of the circuit instant and so that the circuit is able to pick even the slightest of RF or the AC field within a certain range.
In case the circuit is intended to be used for detecting mains phase only at touching proximities, the sensitivity may be reduced to the required levels or the second stage may be excluded from the design.
The LED connected at the output is used for displaying the presence of the AC field; an illuminated LED identifies the presence of the field while no light from it provides the opposite conclusion.
By connecting a 1V FSD moving coil meter at the output, the device can be used to detect and measure the average strength of the AC mains present in that particular vicinity.
Parts List
R1 = 2M2,
R2 = 100K,
R3 = 1K,
C1 = 0.01uF
A1, A2 = IC 324
Sunday, March 10, 2013
How to Make a Ghost Detector Circuit
Do you believe in the existence of ghosts? Well some of you may answer positively while some may just nod their heads showing sheer skepticism regarding the issue. Whatever may be the reactions; nobody just can’t deny or ignore the responses delivered from the circuit explained in this article. Here we are discussing a super simple yet super sensitive paranormal activity sniffer circuit, which can be effectively and possibly used for detecting ghosts or similar supernatural existence within a range of 10 meters. Many of these circuits may be built and posted at definite intervals for securing a certain premise having a large area. The circuit incorporates an alarm at the output which sounds immediately on detecting a paranormal intrusion. The circuit is ideally suited for areas that are prone to ghosts or likely of getting infested with similar para-natural sneakers.
WARNING 1 – THE DEVICE HAS BEEN TESTED WITH POSITIVE RESULTS AND IS PROVED TO BE EXTREMELY ACCURATE WITH THE DISCUSSED DETECTIONS. FOLKS WITH WEAK HEARTS OR TENDER PERSONALITY ARE ADVISED NOT TO GO ABOUT WITH THIS DEVICE, BECAUSE THE DEVICE NOT ONLY DETECTS BUT ALSO COINCIDENTALLY HAS THE ABILITY OF ATTRACTING THE PARABEINGS.
WARNING 2 – THE DEVICE CAN BE TESTED IN MORGUES, GRAVEYARDS, cemeteries etc. ZOMBIES ARE THE ONES WHICH ARE INSTANTLY DETECTED BY THIS DEVICE EVEN FROM DISTANCES MORE THAN 50 METERS. NO DOUBT CREATURE LIKE ZOMBIES WILL HATE THIS DEVICE….BEWARE.
Concept
It has been found through experiments by many researchers that paranormal occupancy is strongly accompanied by RF disturbances ranging from a few Hertz to many Kilohertz.
These signals may be directly proportional to the hostile nature of the ghost. Zombies are found to be emitting the strongest signals and are therefore considered the most horrible among the lot.
The circuit of a ghost detector discussed here is typically configured for capturing the above RF emissions from these creatures and transforming them into more human understandable electronic indications.
Circuit Description
A single versatile IC 324 is involved in the whole operation.
The IC is a quad opamp IC, meaning four opamps in one package.
Referring to the figure, the opamps can be seen configured as hi gain non inverting amplifiers.
All the opamps are configured as high gain signal amplifiers.
Tiny electromagnetic or RF disturbances which are typically found being generated during the presence of ghosts or paranormal activities are instantly picked up by the antenna of the circuit and are fed to the input of the first opamp stage at pin #9.
The signals get instantly amplified and are transferred to the subsequent stages for further amplification and enhancement.
The output of the last opamp is connected to an opto-coupler.
The optocoupler is a homemade type, incorporating an LED and an LDR fixed such that their emitting and detecting surfaces are placed face to face inside a light proof enclosure.
Here, the optocoupler is used for sensing the LED illumination that may occur when a certain paranormal activity is sensed.
The illumination produced over the LED is tracked by the LDR whose resistance falls with the LED light.
The fall in the resistance of the LDR activates the connected transistor at the output, which in turn actuates a buzzer or a horn indicating a possible ghost intrusion.
The whole circuit may be built over a small piece of vero-board and should be strictly operated with a 9 volt battery.
The whole system may be enclosed inside a plastic box with the antenna kept protruding out of the box.
Parts List
R1 = 100K,
R2 = 2M2,
R3, R4 = 1K,
C1 = 0.01uF ceramic
C1 = 0.01uF ceramic
OP1 = LED/LDR assembly inside a light proof enclosure,
T1 = BC557,
B1 = Piezo Electric Buzzer
READERS ARE REQUESTED TO SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCES WITH THIS DEVICE. A PHOTO OR A VIDEO PROOF WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED....
READERS ARE REQUESTED TO SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCES WITH THIS DEVICE. A PHOTO OR A VIDEO PROOF WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED....
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Make Yourself a Simple LED Flasher at Home
Looking for a simple LED project? Learn how easy it is to build a LED wig wag flasher using just a couple of transistors and few other passive components. A LED flasher schematic has also been provided to facilitate the ease of construction.
It’s a simple home fun project that will cost you hardly anything, yet the result will truly amuse you. Build a simple LED flasher and find ways to use it for decoration.
There you must have studied how a transistor can be used to switch a load connected to its collector through a small voltage applied to its base. The circuit of a simple LED wig wag flasher presented here incorporates just a couple of transistor and is wired as a multivibrator. The transistors alternately switch the LEDs connected to their collector points to produce an attractive flashing effect of LEDs. The circuit may also be used as an LED emergency flasher unit.
Parts Required
You will require the following very few numbers of components to build this circuit:
Resistors ¼ watt, CFR, 5%
R1 and R2 = 22 K,
Potentiometers = 47 K,
LED series resistors are all = 150 Ohms,
LED RANDOM COLORED 5mm = 40 nos.
Capacitors Electrolytic Radial
C1 and C2 = 10 µF / 25 Volts,
Transistors, General purpose
T2 and T2 = BC 547 B
General Purpose Board = Small piece 4” by 4”
How to Build a LED Flasher?
The construction of this LED flasher is very simple and is finished through the following simple steps:
In the given general purpose board, begin by inserting the two transistors somewhere around the centre of the board. Keep at least an inch of space in between them.
Solder and cut of their leads cleanly.
Next fill the board with the resistors and the capacitors. As above solder and cut their leads with the help of a nipper.
Now go on interconnecting their soldered leads as shown in the circuit diagram.
The entire procedure should take not more than ½ an hour. This concludes the circuit board assembly.
Take a suitable plastic enclosure, drill appropriate holes for the potentiometers on its front panel.
Fix the potentiometers into these holes and connect them to the relevant points of the circuit board with the help of flexible wires as per the circuit schematic.
How to make the LED Series Connections?
To complete the LED string wiring just go through the following points:
In one of my previously written articles you can find a detailed discussion regarding the method of connecting the LEDs in series and then in parallel.
Just follow the circuit description of the article and complete the construction of two LED strings.
Or alternatively you may just do it as per the wiring diagram of the LED connections in this article itself.
Ultimately you will find that there are two negative points coming out of the two LED strings and a common positive.
How to Test it?
With the help of the given LED wig wag flasher schematic you may proceed the testing of the unit in the following manner:
Connect by soldering the LED string outputs to the appropriate points of the circuit board.
Finally connect a 12 supply to the completed circuit assembly, instantly the whole of the LED string will start flashing displaying a true fairy light effect.
This LED string light may be positioned appropriately over the wind shield of your car for a nice little decoration.
The potentiometer controls may be optimized as per your taste to get more amazing results from the circuit.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Make This Water Level Indicator Circuit at Home
There are many posts in this blog which essentially explain water level controller circuits, with the specific intentions of switching the involved motor pump when the tank fills up.
However there are folks who just require an indication of the different levels of water in the tank rather than have an automatic shut off facility.
The switching OFF of the motor is preferred to be carried out manually, which is considered more reliable and safe by them.
The proposed water level circuit idea is specifically suited for the above type of readers who are satisfied with the indications only and want to do the shutting part of the motor manually as per the readings of the indicator and as per the desired water levels in the tank.
The circuit presented here is again super simple to build, involving only a single IC 4049 for the intended applications.
The IC as we all know have six NOT gates, these gates are simple inverters, meaning they will invert any voltage level at their input pins to exactly the opposite level at their output pin.
So if a positive is applied to the input, the output would instantly produce a negative and vice versa.
The high input impedance of CMOS gates makes sure that potential even with very low currents are suitably sensed and interpreted by them.
The idea is simple, the ground or the negative voltage (point 0 in the figure) is held at the bottom most part of the tank, such that the water reaches this point first up when it starts filling.
As the water level goes higher, it subsequently comes in contact with the inputs of the NOT gates arranged serially upwards.
The negative voltage stationed at the bottom of the tank leaks through the water and comes in contact with the relevant inputs of the gates.
This negative potential applied at the subsequent inputs of the gates means a production of an opposite voltage, that is a positive potential at their outputs, thats what exactly happens.
The positive voltage thus generated lights up the concerned LEDs, indicating which input of the gate at what level has come in contact with the rising water level.
The sensor wire terminals from the circuit in the form of the points 0 to 6 may be arranged over a non conducting stick made up of plastic with brass screw heads fitted as the sensor termination.
The LED illuminations give a direct indication of the water levels, as these are stationed with calibrated positions in the tank (see circuit diagram)
The pin out diagram of the IC 4049 is given below:
Image credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CMOS_4049_diagram.svg
Part List.
All LED resistors are 470 Ohms,
All gate input resistors are 2M2
All capacitors are 0.1 disc ceramic.
All the gates are from the IC 4049
All LEDs are red 5mm, or as preferred by the maker.
However there are folks who just require an indication of the different levels of water in the tank rather than have an automatic shut off facility.
The switching OFF of the motor is preferred to be carried out manually, which is considered more reliable and safe by them.
The proposed water level circuit idea is specifically suited for the above type of readers who are satisfied with the indications only and want to do the shutting part of the motor manually as per the readings of the indicator and as per the desired water levels in the tank.
The circuit presented here is again super simple to build, involving only a single IC 4049 for the intended applications.
The IC as we all know have six NOT gates, these gates are simple inverters, meaning they will invert any voltage level at their input pins to exactly the opposite level at their output pin.
So if a positive is applied to the input, the output would instantly produce a negative and vice versa.
The high input impedance of CMOS gates makes sure that potential even with very low currents are suitably sensed and interpreted by them.
The idea is simple, the ground or the negative voltage (point 0 in the figure) is held at the bottom most part of the tank, such that the water reaches this point first up when it starts filling.
As the water level goes higher, it subsequently comes in contact with the inputs of the NOT gates arranged serially upwards.
The negative voltage stationed at the bottom of the tank leaks through the water and comes in contact with the relevant inputs of the gates.
This negative potential applied at the subsequent inputs of the gates means a production of an opposite voltage, that is a positive potential at their outputs, thats what exactly happens.
The positive voltage thus generated lights up the concerned LEDs, indicating which input of the gate at what level has come in contact with the rising water level.
The sensor wire terminals from the circuit in the form of the points 0 to 6 may be arranged over a non conducting stick made up of plastic with brass screw heads fitted as the sensor termination.
The LED illuminations give a direct indication of the water levels, as these are stationed with calibrated positions in the tank (see circuit diagram)
The pin out diagram of the IC 4049 is given below:
Image credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CMOS_4049_diagram.svg
Part List.
All LED resistors are 470 Ohms,
All gate input resistors are 2M2
All capacitors are 0.1 disc ceramic.
All the gates are from the IC 4049
All LEDs are red 5mm, or as preferred by the maker.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Make an Efficient 40 watt Electronic Ballast Circuit
From my experience the ballast uses some of the power but it somehow pushes more power in to the lamp no matter it's rating. Sort of like pushing a 120v incandescent bulb at 140vac instead of 120vac, it's brighter and uses more power but won't last as long. I also have some "green" shop light and it uses 65w no matter what 4 foot tubes I put it in, I tried the stock 40w, 32w and even a 28w and the kill-a-watt said 65w no matter which one was in there. the 28w tubes looked the brightest, but there wasn't much difference.for full detail can be found here
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